Sweet dreams: donated bus to help homeless sleep safe and sound

By KIRSTEN WHITEHEAD

A local transport company has provided one of its buses to help house the homeless.

Westernport Roadlines, in Koo Wee Rup, has donated a coach to the new organisation sleepbus, to be converted into accommodation for Melbourne’s homeless population.

The coach is a part of a three-month testing initiative to begin soon, where it will be open to the homeless population within Melbourne’s CBD.

The non-profit charity was created in February and has since raised more than $105,000 towards its $120,000 goal.

The organisation was developed by businessman Simon Rowe, who was driven to start the project after he saw a homeless man trying to sleep in the streets of Melbourne in the middle of the day last year, with people stepping over him.

“I don’t know what it was about that particular incident down the street that just got to me, but when I relayed that story to my family that night, tears began rolling down my face,” Mr Rowe said.

“In cities as big as Melbourne and Sydney, it becomes easy for people to fall in between the cracks, it’s definitely every man for themselves.”

Each bus taken by sleepbus is designed to include 22 individual sleep pods, as well as two toilets and eight kennels for pets.

Separate sleep pods will also include a single bed mattress, sheets and pillows which are to be washed daily, as well as USB ports for charging mobile phones.

The goal of the project is to provide safe sleeping areas for homeless Melbourne citizens such as Scott Saunders, a man who has been living on Melbourne streets for the past few months.

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“I’ve worked for the past 26 years, never been on the dole in my life. I don’t deserve to be out here in the city streets,” Mr Saunders said.

“This sleepbus idea sounds like a good one. At the end of the day, a bed’s a bed, and feeling safe is all you can really ask for.”

Mr Rowe admitted he too had spent some months being without a home as a young adult.

“I was 19 and homeless. But it wasn’t all that bad, I had a job and a car. So I slept in my car for four months or so,” Mr Rowe said.

“Too often you hear people say someone is one disaster away from ending up without a home.”

Westernport Roadlines and Sandringham Coaches (WRL) general manager Lynette Dineen said in February it was a simple decision to support sleepbus once she learnt about the organisation.

“Our 1993 53 passenger motorcoach was due to be sold because it was no longer economically viable to keep it in service, and when we heard about sleepbus we contacted Simon straight away to see if we might be able to help,” Ms Dineen said.

“We are thrilled our coach meets the specifications required and can’t wait to see it converted into mobile accommodation to help homeless people across Victoria.”

Mr Rowe said WRL had gone “above and beyond” to provide sleepbus with its first coach.

“Not only has the company sold us a bus at almost half price, but it has done repairs and maintenance to ensure the bus we get is in perfect working order, and is supporting us with ongoing maintenance as well,” he said.

It is reported that more than 105,000 of Australia’s population are currently homeless.

The Sleep Bus gofundme campaign has been shared across Facebook over 143,000 times.

All of the donations made go directly into building and operating the pilot buses.